From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishassuageas‧suage /əˈsweɪdʒ/ verb [transitive] literary REDUCEto make an unpleasant feeling less painful or severe SYN relieve Nothing could assuage his guilt.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
assuage• Debra tried to assuage my fears.• My physical hunger could be quite quickly assuaged, my mental starvation was a different matter.• The decision to look outside the bank for a chief executive is likely to assuage some critics of Barclays in the City.• Ha face was pale, her eyes dark-rimmed, and this assuaged some of my pain at the nun's silly chatter.• This itself suggests that such findings assuage some sense of guilt.• Its escapism and conservatism assuaged the threats of the Cold War world outside.• His presence alone would be assuaging to her.assuage ... guilt• Above all, affirmative action assuages white guilt.• Ill health removed the pleasures of dissipation for him, and there was nothing to assuage his guilt and regret.• Or assuage the guilt for abandoning that traditional ideal.Origin assuage (1200-1300) Old French assouagier, from Vulgar Latin assuaviare, from Latin ad- “to” + suavis “sweet” 